BILL NUMBER: AB 696	CHAPTERED  05/08/00

	CHAPTER   19
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   MAY 8, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   MAY 8, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   APRIL 24, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   APRIL 13, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MARCH 29, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JANUARY 20, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JANUARY 10, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JULY 2, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 30, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 14, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Washington

                        FEBRUARY 23, 1999

   An act to amend Section 1 of Chapter 58 of the Statutes of 1997,
relating to charter schools, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 696, Washington.  Charter schools:   community day schools.
   (1) Existing law provides that a charter school that serves
at-risk pupils and operates under a charter approved before June 1,
1997, in the County of Los Angeles may continue to operate until June
30, 1999.
   This bill would extend the date until June 30, 2003.
   (2) Existing law requires that the attendance of pupils in a
charter school described in (1), above, be funded at the same rates
for the same categories of pupils as community schools in the same
county.  Existing law specifies the method for the determination and
reporting of the average daily attendance of such a charter school.
   This bill would delete those provisions and would authorize a
charter school described in (1) to be funded for not more than 2,000
units average daily attendance in any fiscal year, to the extent
funding is appropriated therefor, as if it were a community day
school operated by a county.  This bill would require the county
board of education to establish specific accountability criteria
applicable to these charter schools and would require charter schools
that are not in compliance with the criteria to submit a plan for
improvement.
   (3) Existing law provides that the provisions in (1) above shall
not be construed to authorize a county board of education to grant,
or to prohibit a county board of education from granting, a charter
that has not been denied by a school district.
   This bill would delete this provision.
   (4) This bill would require the Legislative Analyst to include in
the Analysis of the 2002-03 Governor's Budget, a report on the need
to continue community day school funding rates for a charter school.

   (5) This bill would make certain findings and declarations
regarding the inapplicability of a general statute within the meaning
of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
   (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 1 of Chapter 58 of the Statutes of 1997, as
amended by Section 39 of Chapter 825 of the Statutes of 1997, is
amended to read:
  Sec. 1.  (a) A charter school operating under a charter approved
before June 1, 1997, by the county board of education of a county of
the first class to serve at-risk pupils, may operate until June 30,
2003.
   (b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of the Education Code,
except as set forth in subdivision (c), for the 1999-2000 fiscal year
and each fiscal year thereafter, up to and including the 2002-03
fiscal year, the attendance of pupils in a charter school to which
this section applies shall be funded at the same rates for the same
categories of pupils as community schools and community day schools
in the same county.
   (c) A charter school operated pursuant to subdivision (a) may, if
its charter so provides, operate one or more community day schools in
compliance with Article 3 (commencing with Section 48660) of Chapter
4 of Part 27 of the Education Code, except for compliance with the
employment requirements in subdivision (a) of Section 48663 and
subdivision (c) of Section 48664, and the funded average daily
attendance limitations of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a)
of Section 48664, and be funded for not more than 2,000 units of
average daily attendance in any fiscal year, to the extent that
funding is appropriated therefor, pursuant to subdivision (a) of
Section 48664 as if it were a community day school operated by a
county.  The average daily attendance of a charter school operating
pursuant to this section shall not be in addition to the average
daily attendance limitation provided pursuant to subdivision (a) of
Section 48664 of the Education Code.
   (d) The Legislative Analyst shall include, in the Analysis of the
2002-03 Governor's Budget, a report on the need to continue community
day school funding rates for a charter school operated pursuant to
subdivision (a).
   (e) A county board of education that has approved a charter school
as set forth in subdivision (a), shall establish specific
accountability criteria to annually measure the performance of the
charter school.  The performance criteria shall require all of the
following:
   (1) That at least 80 percent of the charter school's pupils have
met the pupil objectives of the charter school.
   (2) That at least 62 percent of the charter school's pupils have
graduated from the charter school completing their general education
requirements on a timely basis, or have returned to their school
district of residence.
   (3) That the parents of at least 59 percent of the pupils have
participated in weekly parenting education sessions and other charter
school activities.
   (f) If a charter school does not comply with the performance
criteria set forth in subdivision (e), the charter school shall
submit to the county board of education a plan for improvement that
is designed to enable the charter school to comply with the criteria
within a time determined by the county board of education.
  SEC. 2.  Due to the unique circumstances resulting from the
intensely urbanized nature of the affected county, it is necessary to
extend the authorization for charter schools as set forth in Section
1, and the Legislature finds and declares that a general statute
cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article
IV of the California Constitution.
  SEC. 3.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to revise at the earliest possible time the formula for
funding community day schools operated by a charter school the
charter of which was approved by a county board of education to serve
at-risk pupils, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.
